... although you know that one day you will die, you live as if you wont.

Wednesday, 23 May 2007

Under construction

It's been a few days since I finished reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven. It's a nice book. Not quite light reading though, quite contrary to what the almost cheerily conversational tone might lull you into thinking. Well, I suppose it could be... but never mind. Thing is, it drew me into this immense but insubstantial gloom. Rather like what one might feel, having stumbled into a dense fog on a dark moonless night. The point being, you're in the middle of something that you don't like, that you can feel all around you, but can't see. You see, the book, through a surprisingly fresh point of view presents the vision of heaven we would most wish for! Well, those of us who believe in such things as heaven and an afterlife and all that jazz anyway.

But while tying up the threads in a fascinating, almost magical flourish, Albom inadvertently slipped a noose around my happy, winged, white robed ghost, skipping about in its future abode, and brought about its untimely demise :-digging our graves building our heavens. Right, again, not all of us, but anyway, those of us who are, are paving the way to one and only one paradise. (One for each that is.) It's like the choices we make in life are visited upon us in heaven! Every step you take, you are making a choice, and by the time you die you've already picked your heaven, and it's not everything you've ever wanted, just one.

Now that might not necessarily be a bad thing, I know, but doesn't it reek too much of life? You can never have everything you want. Every day is a little give and a little get. You hope for a little better, and you take what you get. You cannot be in two places at the same time. You cannot be two things in one life. The main difference of course, is that in life, you might never get anything that you've ever wanted.Right, so having been put in such a fine mood, I was whisked out of it but a certain boat ride (read drive :D). And subsequently by the fantastic weather :P. (We're still getting battered by 40 knot winds and 5 metre seas, and are consequently out of production.) And I've made my peace with Albom :). Maybe I'll even buy Tuesdays With Morrie. But in the mean time I've not started on a book in a week. The longest break my somewhat battered bookmark has had in a couple of years I think!Feeling: highListening to: Gorillaz - El Mañana

6 comments:

Right then, so Dr. Phil has a question for you -- If you had to choose between one of those less than satisfactory 'heavens', or no heaven at all, i.e. the whole everything-ends-at-death-and-ashes-to-dust, etc., what would it be, hmmmmm?

But it's a hypothetical question! Doesn't matter whether it matters or not. Don't run away from the question :PAnd my profuse apologies for the detestable character. Didn't realise what an outrage I'd committed! :P